This is a working relationship with the City of Cape Town and the Cape Bird Club.
Alan Morris started the co-ordinated bird counts in December 1974 and they still continue at Zandvlei.
Clear, sunny and wind from SE moderate and varying. It was not possible to drive around the Keyers and Westlake River banks as the reeds had grown across the pathway and 500 metres from Main Road there is an out and inflow from the northern wetlands into the Westlake River which was calf deep and about 3 metres wide. Barry and I went onto the road reserve berm and recorded a number of species in the water pools still present from this vantage point. Rutter Road pond had 2 species – we were possibly too late in the day for this time of the year.
The Zandvlei estuary mouth was closed by management methods for December 2012 and January 2013 peak season for public safety reasons. The weather was clear, sunny with a moderate SE wind varying at an estimated 5 to 10 knots. The preceding weeks have had very high wind conditions and this could have influenced the specie and bird numbers for the count. eg the Flamingos were in the Central Pan in the Nature Reserve today where they have been near the second bend of the estuary mouth for nearly 4 months. It is more sheltered in the Central Pan. The Flamingos mainly juveniles have been at Zandvlei since mid October 2012, numbers varying from 10 to 100. The pondweed has not regrown fully yet and there was a lack of ducks in the main water body.
There was a sailing school active for children in the scout basin which had no bird presence. They were in a delineated area. The general activity would have precluded water birds from the greater basin with the movement of the windsurfers, standup boards and small yachts, the colour and the excited noise. Barry and Val Cleveland counted the northern Marina channels and the night heron roost area by canoe. They also commented that the vlei was very quiet of bird activity on the day. The surprise and delight was the Greater Painted Snipe, male, seen on the western shore near the scout base by Lee and Mel.
Susan Wishart counted the caravan park and Park Island. Alice Ashwell and Pat Garrett did the southern Marina channels by canoe and reported a low activity of birds for this area as an observation. Again the previous weeks of south east winds have probably been a contributing factor.
Lee Vestey had another Cory’s Shearwater in her car and was hydrating it at intervals waiting for the SANCOB people to fetch it. It was also found on Muizenberg beach the day before.
There were no Zandvlei Nature Reserve staff available for duty this day.
photograph by Otto Schmidt.
photograph by Greg Morgan.
photograph by Gavin Lawson.
Gavin Lawson.
